Journal of Law and Political Economy

This paper introduces the concept of aspirational work to highlight a common trend in the constitution and organization of work in neoliberal capitalism. It argues that aspirational work should be seen both as an example of displaced training and as an example of a form of work from which capital extracts surplus labor, albeit one which is not recognised as work in UK labor law. It goes on to explore the historical and structural factors that explain why aspirational work falls outside legal definitions of work, giving examples from the case law. Through its discussion of aspirational work, the paper highlights the importance of combining these two levels of abstraction in our analysis of contemporary social phenomena, explaining how capitalism gives rise to a particular form of normativity, and that while this varies historically, it nonetheless possesses certain distinctive and persistent features.